United States shut out in World Cup bid

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced Thursday that Russia will play host to the 2018 World Cup and Qatar will play host to the 2022 World Cup.

The United States was expected to be among the favorites to play host to the 2022 World Cup, but Qatar — the smallest country ever to host the event — was selected ahead of the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia in an announcement made in Zurich, Switzerland.

“Although the US Bid fell short, locally we achieved great success,” Kansas City/USA Host City Bid Committee Director David Ficklin said. “Over these past 18 months, our bid highlighted our city, our region, our facilities and our amenities first to the country, and then to the entire world. Looking forward, we’ll keep building on our strengths. We’ll continue to promote Kansas City as the finest soccer city in the country. And we’ll continue to bring big teams and major events to showcase our fantastic city and facilities.”

In January, the USA Bid Committee selected Kansas City as one of 18 potential host cities in the United States bid to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup™. Kansas City was included in the official United States Bid Book submitted to FIFA in May and following the USA Bid Committee’s October decision to focus solely on the 2022 FIFA World Cup™, Kansas City was among the potential host cities touted in the USA Bid Committee’s official presentation to FIFA on Wednesday.

The Kansas City / USA Host City Bid Committee was chaired by Cerner CEO and Sporting Kansas City owner Neal Patterson and featured members from a wide range of Kansas City metropolitan area public and private entities from both sides of the state line, including: Sporting Kansas City, the Kansas City Chiefs; the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation; the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association; the City of Kansas City, Missouri; the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas; the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA); and POPULOUS, formerly HOK Sport Venue Event.

The World Cup, hosted by South Africa this summer and granted to Brazil for 2014, is a month-long tournament held every four years and is considered the most widely viewed sporting event in the world with a global cumulative television audience of over 26 billion.